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[Sir Pseudonymous]

Actually, such so-called "charities" just embezzle most or all of the money they receive. You wouldn't be helping anyone but some greedy shit who wants to con people out of their money. Even beyond the corruption aspect, throwing free food at people in impoverished areas drives down the price of food, hurting local farmers, reducing their capacity to operate, causing more food shortages. Reality isn't all fluffy and kind, and populations cannot be maintained in excess of their ability to support themselves. It is better for the world to put them out of mind, and let the problem sort itself out.

Not to mention, that has exactly jack shit to do with the situation in Libya. There's absolutely nothing anyone can do about that, except either enjoying the fireworks or putting it out of mind.

[RedKing]

Boy, you're just all sweetness and light when it comes to the Third World. 

I have several friends who work in international development, one's in Cameroon right now. They're not embezzlers, they're not corrupt, and yes the work they do DOES have a positive impact, even if only a localized one sometimes.


Y'know....there's being a devil's advocate, and there's being a contrarian just to be a contrarian. And then there's just being a dick. 

[scriver]

Actually, such so-called "charities" just embezzle most or all of the money they receive.

Obviously depends on the organisation in question. I shouldn't even need to tell you that.

You wouldn't be helping anyone but some greedy shit who wants to con people out of their money. Even beyond the corruption aspect, throwing free food at people in impoverished areas drives down the price of food, hurting local farmers, reducing their capacity to operate, causing more food shortages. Reality isn't all fluffy and kind, and populations cannot be maintained in excess of their ability to support themselves. It is better for the world to put them out of mind, and let the problem sort itself out.

Not to mention, that has exactly jack shit to do with the situation in Libya. There's absolutely nothing anyone can do about that, except either enjoying the fireworks or putting it out of mind.

Because that is totally all charity operations do, they throw food at people. Please take your naive pretend-cynicism somewhere else, you're just being pretentious and daft.

[olemars]

Malta suddenly got an air force yesterday when two libyan fighters and two helicopters landed on malta intl airport. Now it seems like they're about to get a navy too as coast guard units are in contact with a Libyan naval vessel by the Maltese coastline...

[Cassicotca]

Interesting to see what happens with Libya after Gadaffi looses all power. Hoping it wont slide to an even worse civil war like it has in some places.

[Sir Pseudonymous]

You want to help people, go work in a soup kitchen, or habitat for humanity, or something, don't piss money into the wind on the offchance someone will try to use it to accomplish nothing on hopeless cases on the other side of the world. There are people starving and going homeless in your own country, and you can actually help them. Squandering massive amounts of resources trying to accomplish the most petty of things in irrelevant backwaters does nothing but give you an undeserved sense of satisfaction.

For all that has been pissed into third world countries, what is there to show for it? After decades of this meddling all of the problems it was supposed to solve are still there, or worse than they were when you started. If that had instead been spent on urban renewal and education, how many problems in our countries would have been solved by now? Burning all these resources is actively harmful to society, while it does nothing but create a masturbatory illusion of helping people.

[Alexhans]

http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/

Gadaffi speaking from a derelict building.  WTF moments assured.

[olemars]

I'm trying to come up with something snide to say about this speech, but really it's all just madness.

[RedKing]

Malta suddenly got an air force yesterday when two libyan fighters and two helicopters landed on malta intl airport. Now it seems like they're about to get a navy too as coast guard units are in contact with a Libyan naval vessel by the Maltese coastline...

In other news, Maltese defense budget increases 300% as they scramble to figure out where to get a supply of jet fuel. (seriously...all of their fixed-wing aircraft are prop planes). Those Mirages will probably be repatriated to Libya once the next government takes over.


SirP: I could spend the next few hours digging up charts of gains in literacy rates, infant mortality rates, life expectancies, etc. in scores of countries in the last 50 years and show how these came about through the assistance of NGO's. But frankly, you're not worth it. You wanna be that guy who is fashionably cyncial and dismissive about 'brown people countries', go right ahead. I'll be with the thousands of uncool, naive schmucks who spend their lives working in the belief that things can get better.

[olemars]

"Speech" has entered second hour now. BBC World gave up. Al jazeera has worn out one translator already.

[RedKing]

"Speech" has entered second hour now. BBC World gave up. Al jazeera has worn out one translator already.

Classic supervillain flaw: the need for lengthy, overblown monologues. This will give Mr. Bond just enough time to slip out of his restraints, disable the anthrax-filled missile, and escape with one of Qaddafi's virgin bodyguards so that he can render her "unfit for duty", wink wink nudge nudge....

[olemars]

Libyan state TV was trying to create the illusion there were a mass of people present listening to Ghadaffis speech, but an accidental camera pan revealed all five of them.

[Taricus]

Ha, that must've been embarrassing 

[Sir Pseudonymous]

SirP: I could spend the next few hours digging up charts of gains in literacy rates, infant mortality rates, life expectancies, etc. in scores of countries in the last 50 years and show how these came about through the assistance of NGO's. But frankly, you're not worth it. You wanna be that guy who is fashionably cyncial and dismissive about 'brown people countries', go right ahead. I'll be with the thousands of uncool, naive schmucks who spend their lives working in the belief that things can get better.

Yes, that's why I'm advocating instead spending those resources on urban renewal, housing, soup kitchens, and education, rather than wasting a massive portion of said resources carting supplies and labor across the goddamn world, to accomplish only the most trivial and ephemeral of benefits.

This is the problem with most of the left, a desire to piss away resources on every random cause that comes to mind, instead of focusing on meaningful social improvements. If even a fraction of what was wasted accomplishing nothing had instead been spent fighting for improvements to education and for public healthcare...

[Willfor]

I'm unsure when foreign charity became a left/right issue and not a human/inhuman issue. To my knowledge there are many right-leaning charities if only because of the usual religion of the right. I can do this roll eyes thing too, here, watch ->